


The Advocate

by lizard_socks



Series: Rootstock [2]
Category: Star Trek
Genre: Elsewhere Fic, Ferengi Alliance, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:47:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24342301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizard_socks/pseuds/lizard_socks
Summary: On the planet Ressinak, friendship *is* for sale - in the form of cute, individually wrapped creatures that fit in the palm of your hand. But not everyone is thrilled about self-aware, intelligent beings being treated as a commodity.Sharona Misam is a Caitian scientist working on an independent Iroshan transport ship, and he's intent on figuring out what makes these creatures tick.
Series: Rootstock [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1778194
Kudos: 1





	The Advocate

_Merchant's log, datestamp 89-54. The_ Rootstock _is scheduled to spend the next eighteen days in orbit around the Iroshan colony planet Ressinak, to ferry supplies between the planet and its moon. Our crew has been encouraged to patronize local business and bring some souvenirs to take back home._

\- \- -

Ashley looked down at the little blue blob sitting on her shipmate's table.

"You know, when Sheleth says to grab a souvenir, she probably doesn't expect you to grant it life."

"You can't  _grant_ life to something that already has it, Ashley," the Caitian replied. "I'm a scientist, here on behalf of the Federation. We have a moral responsibility to protect vulnerable life forms like these."

"Misam." Ashley looked him in the eyes. "This is an Iroshan ship, and Iroshar is a member of the Ferengi Alliance. You can't just go around trying to enforce Federation values."

"Why not? Because of the Prime Directive? We're not in Starfleet anymore."

"Because it  _won't work._ "

Misam tucked his tail in his pocket and started putting on gloves. "You've been here long enough, Ashley. You know the Ferengi government has no real power besides their vats of latinum. Otherwise they'd have a real currency instead of trading in commodities."

"...So Sheleth's okay with this?"

"She's from the Federation, same as us," said Misam. "Of course she's on board."

"But are you sure this is the right thing to do? To bring this creature back to life? We don't know what side effects it might cause."

"This thing was  _talking_ to me, Sky." Misam gestured towards the creature on the table. "They can understand us and give us advice, and they're being sold at convenience stores in cheap wrapping foil and thrown away after thirty minutes."

"What makes you so sure they aren't artificial, like a hologram?" Ashley leaned against the wall. "How many times you wanna bet someone's started and stopped  _Flotter_ in just the past month?"

"Hey, if a hologram was showing this level of self-awareness, I'd be standing up for  _their_ rights, too."

"So are we gonna allocate quarters for the medical hologram's diagnostic program now?"

Misam grumbled. "You're just arguing for the sake of it now, aren't you?"

"I mean, I don't have any better suggestions."

\- \- -

An exuberant Misam came running onto the bridge. "I've done it!" he shouted, holding up a small blue blob with big eyes.

The bridge, he quickly realized, was empty save for two people. Pyrite, the ship's photonic engineer, turned around from her console. "That's organic, right?" she asked. "Is this a big deal? I really have no context for what's going on here."

Misam walked ahead to the captain, Sheleth, a large reptilian. She was standing, as usual, at the main console mounted on a post near the front of the bridge. She gave the blob a look of curisoity.

"Where'd the eyes come from?" she asked.

"They manifest themselves when the thing wakes up," said Misam. "I don't think it's part of the visual sensory system. I think it's just a way of conveying emotion."

Sheleth took the creature from Misam and turned it over in her hands. "Did you make it... bigger?"

"Turns out all I had to do was put two of them together!"

The blob bounced a little. "I was two dead things, but now I'm an alive thing," it said. "Doesn't feel much different though."

"I'm not sure you  _were_ dead," Sheleth said to it. "Maybe it's a matter of nutrient supply?"

"I dunno," the blob said. "I can't take care of myself. I'm a blob."

"Do you have a name?"

"Do I have to come up with one? Sounds like a lot of work."

A teary Misam looked into its eyes. "I will come up with so many names for you. You'll have more names than a European monarch."

\- \- -

Sheleth asked Ashley, along with Pyrite and the grey-furred crewman Leaf, to make a visit to the surface of the planet and track down the company that had distributed and packaged the small blue creatures. To their surprise, it was the company's president, a congenial Ferengi named Rone, who answered them at the door.

"I'll tell you whatever you want to know about the process," he said. "Collection, growth, shipping, you name it."

"You're not going to charge us for this information?" asked Leaf.

"I couldn't if I tried! This isn't exactly a secret, you know. If I tried to get five slips out of you, someone out there would try to undercut me for three!"

Pyrite put her hands on a rail and peeked at the level below, where several of the creatures - apparently motionless - were being packed in a box. "So what are they?" she asked.

"We call them bolnars," said Rone. "Not a trademark, of course. Rela Distribution has only one brand, and it stands for consistency and availability, no matter the product."

"And this 'product' is a living being that can talk?" asked Ashley skeptically.

"We do not think of ourselves as selling  _them,_ " Rone replied. "We sell  _access_ to them. For far less than any one Ferengi would have to pay without our efforts, I might add. Or human, for that matter. You are human, aren't you?"

Leaf walked over, gesturing to the workspace below them. "Those bolnars down there. Are you shipping them out?"

"That's part of our reclamation operation. We collect used bolnars and bring them to the Rela processing center at Lake Eaven. Once we leave them down there for long enough, they break down into their component parts, and from there we can re-harvest."

"You're resurrecting them," Ashley said.

"In a fashion," said Rone. "The basic process goes back to the early days of Iroshan colonization of Ressinak. New bolnars can be created, without their memories - a completely blank slate, just like new ones are. Hopefully, our research will soon allow us to do it at scale."

\- \- -

Ashley walked into Misam's lab to see him looking over a very large bolnar, a meter wide and almost as tall. It looked at Misam with its big yellow eyes.

"You seem unsettled," it said. "Are you worried about me?"

"You seem like you'll be fine. It's Misam I'm worried about." Ashley turned to her friend. "How many bolnars did you put together now?"

"About two dozen. One at a time, though." He pulled up his log records on the computer. "After each one I gave this guy a customized hypospray to wake him back up, and recorded how long he stayed awake for. Every time I added more mass, he lasted longer. The lifespans for each amount of mass follow a hyperbolic function,  _until_ I reach this point."

"Wait," Ashley said, looking back at the bolnar. "Have you always been a  _he?_ "

"We just go along with whatever gender they assign to us," the bolnar said. "There's always an argument on Ressinak about whether we're male or nonbinary. Gender identity is very important to humanoids, isn't it?"

"I changed my given name for it. And that's not something that most humans ever do. Speaking of names, how many has Misam given you now?"

"Three so far. I've passed him. He's just got two, and he only ever uses one."

The computer screen focused on the break point of the graph, where the smooth asymptotic curve became a straight horizontal line.

"This is when there's enough mass in the bolnar for its biological nutrition system to keep pace with its basic neural requirements," Misam explained. "From this point on, it just needs food, like anyone else."

"Speaking of food." The bolnar rolled over to look at them. "There was a kid named Ratellar down on the planet who made a sandwich with cheese and tomato. She gave me some. You all should try it sometime."

"That's another thing," Misam told Ashley. "He remembers all the stuff that happened to any of the bolnars that were used to make him."

"That's weird," Ashley said. "Rone said the bolnars didn't keep their memories."

"He's not lying," said the bolnar. "We usually don't."

Misam shrugged. "It's probably because I put a bunch of whole bolnars together," he said, "instead of using parts. That's what Pyrite thinks, anyway."

"I still don't trust that guy Rone." Ashley sat down on the countertop. "Why make new bolnars with their memories wiped?"

"To be fair," the bolnar said, "you haven't figured out how to keep my memories without making me big."

Ashley gave the bolnar a quizzical look. "Why are you defending him?"

"I mean, this whole thing seems like a lot bigger deal to you than it is to me."

"It's  _about_ you!" said Misam.

"He's right," Ashley told the bolnar. "It sounds like bolnars like you are being sold and thrown away. Can't you stand up for youself? Or does that really not bother you?"

"Maybe it should," the bolnar admitted. "But it really doesn't. I don't know, maybe it's just hard for me to think of myself the way you do."

\- \- -

Sheleth looked through the latest reports from the company using her console on the bridge. She could just as easily do this from her quarters, she thought to herself; but then again, her Kasheetan skeleton wasn't made for sitting down, the way Iroshan and Ferengi bodies were, and if she was gonna stand, she might as well do it here.

Most of the reports on her screen were shaded a dull brown - messages that she was included on, but where she wasn't the direct recipient. Still, she liked going through all of them, to make sure she didn't miss anything important. One in particular caught her eye.

"Misam," she said, turning around. "Do you still have that bolnar in your lab?"

"Yeah. Are we leaving Ressinak? He wanted me to take him back down before we left."

"Not quite yet. But I  _did_ just recieve a copy of an internal memo of the Ressinaker government. Seems like some of the councilors are trying to put an end to the bolnar trade."

"Who sent this to you?"

"No idea. But apparently someone wants us to get involved. Not sure what they want us to do about it, though."

Misam sat up and walked over to take a look. "You weren't kidding. They want to end the processing of bolnars altogether."

"What's your squishy little friend think about this?"

"I honestly don't think the bolnar is going to be that happy."

"It would end the exploitation of his race, wouldn't it?"

"And replace it with what? Nothing? All this creature cares about is talking with people and helping them."

"But he can't - or won't - let people know what he wants," Sheleth mused. "And now the councilors who are trying to protect them are also taking away what they love the most."

Misam glanced again at the screen. "I bet whoever sent you this message understands that, too."

"But what do they want us to do about it?"

"I dont think it matters what  _they_ want us to do. What do  _you_ think we should do? You're the captain, after all."

Sheleth sighed. "I was really hoping you had something in mind."

\- \- -

"This seems a little crazy," Leaf said. "We're supposed to be outer-space transport operators, and now we're trespassing on corporate property in an old-fashioned fishing boat?"

Misam lifted his oars out of the water and turned around. "Don't you come from an anarchy?"

"Well, that's what I grew up with. I understand it . This just seems absurd." Leaf lifted up the bolnar. "So we just have to drop you to the bottom of the lake?"

"Guess so." The bolnar looked up at him, smiling, with its cute, innocent eyes. "And then get out of the way."

From the shore, Ashley watched through a pair of binoculars as Leaf dropped the bolnar into Lake Eaven.

"I still can't believe you  _built_ an Earth-style wooden boat," she said.

"I used to have a lot of time on my hands." Pyrite took the binoculars from Skylar. "Didn't that company guy say there was a processing facility here?"

"That's it over there, on the east."

"Really?" Pyrite focused the lens on the distant, half-built structure. "Doesn't look operational, that's for sure."

Jut as Ashley took a seat on the grass at the lakeshore, they noticed a figure approaching from behind.

"Rone?"

The Ferengi pulled down his hood and laughed. "I don't know what those furry men from your ship are up to out there, but I can't wait to find out!"

"So you're the one who wanted us to do your dirty work for you?" Ashley asked.

"Yes, it  _was_ me who sent the message to your ship, if that's what you're wondering. But I'll let you in on a little secret, free of charge: I'm not exactly committed to staying in the bolnar business long-term, if you know what I mean."

"You  _want_ the bolnars to be banned?" Pyrite asked.

"Not exactly. But it's inevitable, isn't it? Rule of Acquisition 35: uncertainty is bad for business."

"But what's your company going to do once they're gone?"

"As I've said many times, Rela's strength in its distribution network, not in any one product. Not all of our competitors can say that."

"So you do stand to benefit from this," said Ashley.

"Believe me, I'm just as profit-minded as any good Ferengi. But you want to know how I rose to the top?  _Long-term thinking._ Get off the ship before it sinks, and save as many of your shipmates as you can, and they'll repay you in spades."

A loud rumbling sound drew the group's attention to the shore, where Misam and Leaf were hastily getting off the boat.

"Don't spend too much time saving  _that_ ship," Pyrite told them. "All I can see is the parts I messed up on. It's embarrassing."

Standing up, Ashley took the binoculars again and looked out at the center of the lake. A large blue mass started to rise out of the water...

A huge grin appeared on Misam's face as he looked up at the gigantic bolnar.

"You look so  _tiny!_ " the bolnar said.

"If this Starfleet kid is right," Rone said, "you should remember everything from every bolnar we've dumped here in the past eleven months."

"Are you afraid I'll spill your secrets, Rone?" said the bolnar. "Don't worry about that. I think you're cute."

"Okay," Misam muttered jokingly, "now I'm jealous."

"But why have them go to all the trouble, Rone?" the bolnar continued. "Couldn't you just let the councilors pass their laws and keep us out of your opponents' hands?"

"Well..." Rone sighed. "I don't have a proper Ferengi explanation for it. But I saw those cooped-up overthinkers in the capital trying to put words in your mouth, and I figured you ought to have a say." He turned to Ashley. "Don't tell anyone I said that."

Ashley chuckled. "Who's the human now?"

"So." Misam looked up at the gigantic bolnar. "What do  _you_ want, Carl Phillipe Abdullah Elvis LeBron?"

The bolnar looked down into the lake. "It's going to take me a while to figure it out," he said. "But I want to keep helping people. I was the only sentient thing on Ressinak for hundreds of years. I don't want to go back to being isolated again."

\- \- -

"So one idea is, they keep one big bolnar around. Or maybe a few." Misam sat down backwards on one of the  _Rootstock_ 's bridge station chairs. "Some of the Ressinakers are worried someone would try to blow them up. But then again, I'm not sure that would even be possible - you could just put the pieces back together."

"They say Iroshans never trust each other," Ashley said. "After spending a few years living in North Wind City, you really start to see what they mean."

Misam turned to Sheleth as she walked over to their stations. "Do you think the bolnars are going to be treated fairly?" he asked her. "I'd hate to see them get taken advantage of again."

"Your guess is as good as mine," said Sheleth. "But it sounds to me like there are plenty of people on Ressinak willing to stand up for them. They just needed to know what to fight  _for_."


End file.
